Since debuting in September 1985, ThunderCats has entertained audiences of all ages and the intro to the original series remains one of the memorable openings of any ’80s cartoon. Now, YouTube creator Mike Booth has recreated the original ThunderCats intro using the 3D animation software program Blender.
Based on the characters created by Ted “Tobin” Wolf, The original ThunderCats series followed the exploits of cat-like humanoid aliens on the planet Third Earth after they abandoned their dying homeworld and evaded the Mutants of Plun-Darr. Although the ThunderCats spent ten “galacto-years” in suspended animation before arriving on their adopted homeworld, the Mutants of Plun-Darr were able to track them down and join forces with a sorcerer named Mumm-Ra in order to retrieve the Eye of Thundera, the source of the ThunderCats’ power. The series consisted of four seasons and a TV movie before concluding in 1989.
Mike Booth’s 3D version of the ThunderCats intro was made by using Blender’s MB-Labs plugin to create base models for the characters Lion-o, Cheetara, Tygra, Panthro, WilyKit, and WilyKat. The lighting and smoke effects were created using Adobe After Effects while the video was edited in Premiere Pro. “The ThunderCats have been a love of mine since I can remember and the intro is something I thought would be a fun challenge to recreate and keep my interest while I was learning the software,” Booth said of the decision to recreate the classic intro in the description of his video.
Although Booth stated that he has no intention of producing similar content for a few years, he did hint at plans to make a ThunderCats short film once the software can accommodate his ambitions. “I will at some point make a ThunderCats short film, making use of some of the years of notes I’ve kept for a feature trilogy, but I’ll wait until the software reaches a point where I can film performance on my camera and just drag and drop it onto my 3D characters,” Booth explained. However, Booth made clear that his fan-made video was in no way associated with Warner Bros., which currently owns the rights to ThunderCats.
Since ThunderCats debuted, the original series has expanded into a multimedia franchise consisting of comics, video games, and two more animated shows. A live-action ThunderCats feature film was reported to be in development in 2007 and although the project never materialized, leaked test footage for the adaption surfaced online in 2011.
Of course, Booth is only the latest in a long line of fans who have taken their favorite properties and recreated them on more modest budgets. Fellow YouTubers Kent Yoshimura and Kevin Fairy recently posted a fan-made remake of The Fast and The Furious produced for under $100.
ThunderCats season 1 is now available on Amazon Prime Video.
Source: Mike Booth/YouTube
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